About deceased estate & house clearances
A deceased estate clearance empties a home after someone has died, or when a parent moves into care and the house is to be sold or leased. It is slower and more careful than ordinary rubbish removal: items are sorted into keep, family, sell, donate, recycle and dispose, documents and valuables are set aside, and the house is left clean enough for an agent or a tenant. The same approach suits downsizing, the end of a long tenancy and hoarded homes. It is worth engaging a tradie who does this regularly when the family is interstate, when the volume is beyond a weekend of car loads, or when the task is too raw.
The homes are a particular kind in these suburbs. Long-held family houses in Killara, Pymble, Wahroonga and Lindfield come with double garages, sheds and under-house storage filled over decades; apartments in Rose Bay, Cremorne and Manly bring lifts, strata notice and parking to organise. There are often items of real value, from furniture and silver to art and books, that deserve an auction house or a dealer rather than a truck, and plenty of items the family wants photographed before they leave. Fridges, mattresses, e-waste, chemicals in the shed and medications in the bathroom all have their own disposal routes.
No licence covers clearance work, so trust is built on the vetting: identification matched to an active ABN, public liability insurance, two references or an equivalent track record, and a code of conduct that includes written quotes and no pressure selling. Instructions should come from the executor or the person with authority, and nothing should leave without their sign-off. Disposal rules still apply: waste goes to a licensed facility, e-waste and chemicals to council programs or a community recycling centre, and the refrigerant in old fridges is recovered by a licensed person rather than vented.
What the job usually includes
How it works
- Tell us about the homeSay what kind of property it is, how full it is, whether anyone will be present, and what has already been removed. Note the timeline, whether an agent or a tenant is waiting, and who has authority to make decisions. Photos of a few rooms and the garage are enough to start.
- We match experienced local tradiesThe job goes to vetted, independent clearance and rubbish removal tradies who do this work in your suburb and have passed identity, ABN, insurance, work-history and conduct checks.
- They quote you in writingInterested tradies arrange a visit, because a clearance cannot be priced from photos alone, then quote in writing under their own business name. The quote should set out the days expected, how sorting and sign-off will work, what will be donated or recycled and where waste will go. There is no obligation to proceed.
- The clearanceA careful crew starts with the rooms you nominate, sets aside anything personal, documentary or valuable in a place you can review, photographs items when asked, and keeps donation, recycling and disposal streams separate. Hazardous items and medications are flagged rather than binned. Nothing leaves the property until the person in charge has agreed to it.
- HandoverWalk the empty house with the tradie, collect the keep box and any keys, remotes and documents found, and ask for donation and disposal receipts. Then let us know how the match went; your feedback is how tradies stay in the network.
Pace, sign-off and respect for what is found
A good clearance crew treats the job as the family's, not theirs. They agree the order of rooms, set up a clearly marked keep area, and stop and ask when something looks personal, valuable or unexpected: a box of letters, a ring in a drawer, a folder of share certificates, a war medal. They photograph items on request, keep an inventory of anything of likely value, and point you toward an auction house or valuer rather than offering to take it off your hands. They work at a pace that lets the executor make decisions without being rushed.
Disposal is done properly even when nobody is watching. Usable furniture, clothing and kitchenware go to charities, several of which collect large items. Mattresses go to a recycler, metal to scrap, e-waste to a community recycling centre, and paint, garden chemicals and gas bottles from the shed to a council chemical collection. Fridges go to a facility that recovers the refrigerant. Medications go back to a pharmacy. Documents with personal details are shredded or returned, not left in a skip. The last load is general waste, and the receipt comes back to you.
Questions worth asking the tradie
Frequently asked questions
A one-bedroom apartment is often a day; a large family home with a garage and shed can take several days, especially where items need sorting rather than simply loading. The quote should set out the expected days and crew size, and a careful operator would rather take longer than throw out something that mattered.
For the first walk-through and the final handover, yes. Between those points many families prefer the crew to work alone with a daily check-in by phone or photos, especially when the executor is interstate. Agree the rules for keep items and valuables in writing before the crew starts.
They are offered to family first, then donated. Charities in Sydney collect sound furniture, clothing, books and household goods, and community groups take tools and garden equipment. Items of higher value such as antiques, art, silver and collections should go to an auction house or specialist dealer; a good tradie will tell you when something warrants that rather than taking it.
They stop and hand it over, and that expectation should be in the quote. Wills, deeds, share certificates, passports, bank records and photographs are set aside for the executor. The tradies in the network have agreed to a code of conduct, and references from previous clearance jobs are part of how they were vetted.
Paint, pesticides, pool chemicals, gas bottles and batteries from the shed go to a Household Chemical CleanOut event or a community recycling centre, not the truck. Medications go to a pharmacy. Fridges and air conditioners should have their refrigerant recovered by a licensed person before scrapping. Fibro or other suspect asbestos material is left for a licensed assessor. Mattresses and e-waste go to recyclers.
Often the clearance tradie can arrange or recommend a bond-style clean, and we can match the garden clean-up, exterior wash, window cleaning and handyman repairs as separate jobs with vetted local tradies. Post those jobs when the clearance date is set so the quotes line up with the agent's timeline.
